Protesting the pipeline

About a dozen people protested the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Project outside the MLAs’ office on First Avenue Monday as part of the Hold the Wall campaign.

“The people up north have already said they don’t want the pipeline, and we’re just lending our voices to support them,” said Viki Buchanan, a co-organizer.

The federal government approved Enbidge’s oil pipeline project last month despite opposition from numerous groups, including the provincial government, First Nations, environmental organizations and residents of the intended oil tanker port of Kitimat.

“There is no respect and regard for our aboriginal brothers and sisters in the north,” said Suzan, an organizer of the event who didn’t want her last name known. “They’re nomadic people and have a right to hunt and fish … The government isn’t listening.”

The decision by the Harper cabinet follows last December’s ruling by a federal review panel that the $6.8-billion project should proceed, subject to 209 conditions. Enbridge would still need to consult with aboriginal communities and obtain provincial permits.

Suzan added she doesn’t believe Enbridge has a good safety record and just one spill would devastate the environment around it.

The twin pipelines would carry 525,000 barrels per day of diluted bitumen from the oil sands west to Kitimat and send condensate to act as a thinning agent east to Alberta.